Only 50 Percent Of Pupils To Get Tablet Computers Next Semester: Thailand

[ginjag]

1.2 billion baht for 400,000 tablets. 3000 baht each.

Didn't they announce a couple of weeks ago that they were going to cost 2400 baht each?

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INFLATION, that's it. aircraft carrier,submarines, airport on a swamp, keep your dams full, driving tests, SAMSUNG for everyone, and 300 bht,(no) 15,000 bht now only for gov., employees that already have the degree. It is not ALL this government, it's Thai logic, but most are from this regime, (landslide election) Ha Ha

[SouthernMan3]

All I see here is about B1 students.

B1 students are very little children.

They can hardly take care of their own shoes let alone an electronic device.

Why not start with M1 students ?

[rubl]

All I see here is about B1 students.

B1 students are very little children.

They can hardly take care of their own shoes let alone an electronic device.

Why not start with M1 students ?

Too late for that.

Maybe the idea of starting with 1st grade is build up from scratch plus the program may be easier to implement. M1 students need much more than a few animated ABC/123 programs.

[SouthernMan3]

All I see here is about B1 students.

B1 students are very little children.

They can hardly take care of their own shoes let alone an electronic device.

Why not start with M1 students ?

Too late for that.

Maybe the idea of starting with 1st grade is build up from scratch plus the program may be easier to implement. M1 students need much more than a few animated ABC/123 programs.

So go with B3

[wxyz]

thats fair, as only 50% of the parents are red shirts...

My thought exactly, only 'red shirt' & 'black shirt' children get them.

Edited February 9, 2012 by wxyz

[wxyz]

More work for the thai internet police.

Edited February 9, 2012 by wxyz

[Reasonableman]

All I see here is about B1 students.

B1 students are very little children.

They can hardly take care of their own shoes let alone an electronic device.

Why not start with M1 students ?

Let's hope that shoe management software is also loaded onto their "tablets" then.

[Ricardo]

Is this a broken promise, a missed target or merely a pre-election promise ?

Whatever, one can understand why the deadline will be missed, the decision on what to order was delayed & muffed over the past several months, rather than being researched long before the actual commitment was made pre-election. Simple bad-planning & bad-execution. Nothing new there, from any government, of whatever colour.

But there are still mixed-messages coming from the current set of poo-yai amart in-charge, with different numbers of machines having been variously ordered or anticipated, according to whomever one believes, or who spoke last.

Another mixed-message appears to be regarding the funding. Either the original funding was sufficient, or the extra sum agreed last week by the Cabinet would be sufficient to cover one machine for every Prathom-1 student, or now a further 1.2 Billion Baht will be required, merely to eventually get one machine to each first-year student, at some point. So how much are they really costing ? Does anybody really know ?

The greater the confusion, the worse the potential either for the appearance of on-going corruption, or of a Ministry & a government who have no idea what they're doing, where there is no clear direction from the politicians, and nobody has the whole picture. Let's hope that the Auditor-General can spare the time, at some point in the future, to check that everything was spotless ?

Any news on delivery of the big pumps the paymaster ordered from South Korea?

It's gone awfully quiet, on that one, hasn't it ?

Perhaps they'll arrive in time for the next monsoon-season, or the next government, or 2015, or ... or ... or ... never in a million years, PM-Yingluck should task Deputy-PM Chalerm with looking into it, to ensure that it's not a counterfeit promise ? Or perhaps not ...

[SouthernMan3]

All I see here is about B1 students.

B1 students are very little children.

They can hardly take care of their own shoes let alone an electronic device.

Why not start with M1 students ?

Let's hope that shoe management software is also loaded onto their "tablets" then.

That would be a good thing.

And while they're at it how about brushing your teeth, not smoking cigs, not drinking lao, following driving laws, and respecting your elders, etc...

[ginjag]

They don't want the basics here, like good upbringing, politeness, manners, maths -geography -it's the parents who ought to be in school. Scrap this tablet thing NOW-get these kids basic good education-skip the half day on the basket ball court-skip the endless teachers meetings held during school hours, have enough teachers to take all classes

[volk666]

Hold on - they only hope to get one or two thousand units for evaluation in a next couple of months, ie March or April. When are they planning to finish testing and order the whole lot if they want to hand them out in May?

[englishinsiam]

Typical of this gov't whatever they touch turns to dust.

Only the Red Shirt supporters kids will get them everyone else can rot.

And they will be filled with red propoganda to brainwash the kids even further.

[z12]

Typical of this gov't whatever they touch turns to dust.

Only the Red Shirt supporters kids will get them everyone else can rot.

And they will be filled with red propoganda to brainwash the kids even further.

But of course, reminds me of the 1984 Apple's Macintosh Commercial.

Edited February 11, 2012 by z12

[473geo]

A learning tool is being provided, let us see how the educated educators can adapt to best utilise the tablets.

Have they the drive and ability to succeed?.......or are we witnessing preformed excuses as the educators fear their efforts will end in failure to deliver the capabilities that are available when provided modern technology

[ginjag]

A learning tool is being provided, let us see how the educated educators can adapt to best utilise the tablets.

Have they the drive and ability to succeed?.......or are we witnessing preformed excuses as the educators fear their efforts will end in failure to deliver the capabilities that are available when provided modern technology

A learning tool is being provided to a privileged few, was about 9 mil initially. BUT near all schools do not have facilities ready, some not have electric, This is Bulsh#it and a total waste of money, research was non existent --it was done on a whim, picture of Yingluck gallery photo-with Samsung.

Oh dear wouldn't it be nice not to bash, but these stunts are now too numerous, and the public are beginning to notice, skirting round this will not be as easy as skirting around the 15,000 student min-wage, still the 300 bht thing is getting smoothed over.---penny pinching now-and spending 25,000 a head on the flood party---it is disgusting to say the least.

For gods sake government, think of something to benefit all, and deliver when you say your going to----then you will be more appreciated.

[rixalex]

A learning tool is being provided, let us see how the educated educators can adapt to best utilise the tablets.

Have they the drive and ability to succeed?.......or are we witnessing preformed excuses as the educators fear their efforts will end in failure to deliver the capabilities that are available when provided modern technology

As always, spin spin spining the blame away from the government.

I think if the educators, as you call them, had been asking for these tablets - if they were being bought upon their recommendation, your idea about them taking the blame for the failures we can all see coming a mile off, would have some credence. But this wasn't their recommendation, this was simply a tactic that PTP used to win votes - nothing more, nothing less - and now they are half-heartedly following through on it, just to say, there you go, we are delivering something, even if it is not what we said we would, and even if it is destined to be a complete waste of money, we can say we delivered nonetheless.

[tlansford]

A learning tool is being provided, let us see how the educated educators can adapt to best utilise the tablets.

Have they the drive and ability to succeed?.......or are we witnessing preformed excuses as the educators fear their efforts will end in failure to deliver the capabilities that are available when provided modern technology

Thank you for a thoughtful post.

Tablets are tools. Upgrading the tools for kids is a good idea. Even if the roll-out is not done well (which would not surprise me), the short and mid-term effects can be significant. The long-term effects of this kind of a program can change Thailand.

A couple of points : If it were a 1-to-1 trade-off between training teachers and providing tablets, I would say train the teachers. But it's not. 2000 schools don't have electricity and more do not have internet connections.

So the government rolls out millions of tablets across the school system. Several results are obvious. Those 2000 schools are going to work like heck to get electricity. The schools are going to start adding internet connections in the schools. And the teacher are going to scream for, and get, training. The kids all across Thailand, across all social classes, will have access to a basic level of modern technology at a young age. In the long run that will change their education experience fundamentally.

Tablets, like any other tool or resource, are not a panacea for education improvement, but technology tools can be an important catalyst in changing the system. There is a lot of work to do within the education system. It will be interesting to see how the first steps of the tablet program go. I'm expecting a bumpy ride.

Edited February 11, 2012 by tlansford

[ginjag]

A learning tool is being provided, let us see how the educated educators can adapt to best utilise the tablets.

Have they the drive and ability to succeed?.......or are we witnessing preformed excuses as the educators fear their efforts will end in failure to deliver the capabilities that are available when provided modern technology

Thank you for a thoughtful post.

Tablets are tools. Upgrading the tools for kids is a good idea. Even if the roll-out is not done well (which would not surprise me), the short and mid-term effects can be significant. The long-term effects of this kind of a program can change Thailand.

A couple of points : If it were a 1-to-1 trade-off between training teachers and providing tablets, I would say train the teachers. But it's not. 2000 schools don't have electricity and more do not have internet connections.

So the government rolls out millions of tablets across the school system. Several results are obvious. Those 2000 schools are going to work like heck to get electricity. The schools are going to start adding internet connections in the schools. And the teacher are going to scream for, and get, training.  The kids all across Thailand, across all social classes, will have access to a basic level of modern technology at a young age. In the long run that will change their education experience fundamentally.

Tablets, like any other tool or resource, are not a panacea for education improvement, but technology tools can be an important catalyst in changing the system.  There is a lot of work to do within the education system. It will be interesting to see how the first steps of the tablet program go. I'm expecting a bumpy ride.

I am pleased you see that this is going to be a bumpy ride, weather the tablets are a good idea or not the point most people are making is, why the hell didn't the government get the IT people, Electricians, and the like in the schools before. Isn't that the thing to do -preparation ??? this is not a bash the government of the day it's bash the pre election promises, so far non fulfilled,and the homework the kids are supposed to do, the government FAILED to do.

[z12]

A learning tool is being provided, let us see how the educated educators can adapt to best utilise the tablets.

Have they the drive and ability to succeed?.......or are we witnessing preformed excuses as the educators fear their efforts will end in failure to deliver the capabilities that are available when provided modern technology

Thank you for a thoughtful post.

Tablets are tools. Upgrading the tools for kids is a good idea. Even if the roll-out is not done well (which would not surprise me), the short and mid-term effects can be significant. The long-term effects of this kind of a program can change Thailand.

A couple of points : If it were a 1-to-1 trade-off between training teachers and providing tablets, I would say train the teachers. But it's not. 2000 schools don't have electricity and more do not have internet connections.

So the government rolls out millions of tablets across the school system. Several results are obvious. Those 2000 schools are going to work like heck to get electricity. The schools are going to start adding internet connections in the schools. And the teacher are going to scream for, and get, training. The kids all across Thailand, across all social classes, will have access to a basic level of modern technology at a young age. In the long run that will change their education experience fundamentally.

Tablets, like any other tool or resource, are not a panacea for education improvement, but technology tools can be an important catalyst in changing the system. There is a lot of work to do within the education system. It will be interesting to see how the first steps of the tablet program go. I'm expecting a bumpy ride.

I am pleased you see that this is going to be a bumpy ride, weather the tablets are a good idea or not the point most people are making is, why the hell didn't the government get the IT people, Electricians, and the like in the schools before. Isn't that the thing to do -preparation ??? this is not a bash the government of the day it's bash the pre election promises, so far non fulfilled,and the homework the kids are supposed to do, the government FAILED to do.

They sure got the cart before the donkey.

Edited February 11, 2012 by z12

[rixalex]

Tablets, like any other tool or resource, are not a panacea for education improvement, but technology tools can be an important catalyst in changing the system.

Mark my words, it will be a complete waste of money in terms of educational benefit, but that was never the purpose was it.

I like the catalyst excuse though. When this project does prove a disaster, we all sit and wait for a technology project within schools that isn't simply about winning votes, and that does actually serve some benefit to students, and then we say, now you see how you all thought that tablets idea was a waste of time and money, well it wasn't, you were wrong, it was the catalyst.

[z12]

It is like handing out light bulbs, but providing no electricity.

Edited February 11, 2012 by z12

[tlansford]

Tablets, like any other tool or resource, are not a panacea for education improvement, but technology tools can be an important catalyst in changing the system.

Mark my words, it will be a complete waste of money in terms of educational benefit, but that was never the purpose was it.

I like the catalyst excuse though. When this project does prove a disaster, we all sit and wait for a technology project within schools that isn't simply about winning votes, and that does actually serve some benefit to students, and then we say, now you see how you all thought that tablets idea was a waste of time and money, well it wasn't, you were wrong, it was the catalyst.

Tools (technology) when deployed on a massive scale have historically been catalysts for change and development. It takes a government initiative to do that, the private sector is not the driver for these changes. That was true before the computer and IT era, but with IT, it happens fast enough to see the shifts. look at broadband roll-outs around the world. South Korea pushed the development and roll-out of broadband across the country and now is a leader in internet infrastructure and many of the related industries. Thailand needs to diversify from being just a manufacturing base for the world and augment it with more domestic sources for design, engineering, etc. This kind of initiative can help that.

As to the roll-out, even European retailers who source large, custom-spec'd, single-system PC projects have rolling projects plans that are 6-8 months long. It would be a huge surprise to me if the public sector could match that speed for an IT project of this scale.

[z12]

First you build the road, then you can give them cars.

Edited February 11, 2012 by z12

[rixalex]

Tools (technology) when deployed on a massive scale have historically been catalysts for change and development. It takes a government initiative to do that, the private sector is not the driver for these changes. That was true before the computer and IT era, but with IT, it happens fast enough to see the shifts. look at broadband roll-outs around the world. South Korea pushed the development and roll-out of broadband across the country and now is a leader in internet infrastructure and many of the related industries. Thailand needs to diversify from being just a manufacturing base for the world and augment it with more domestic sources for design, engineering, etc. This kind of initiative can help that.

As to the roll-out, even European retailers who source large, custom-spec'd, single-system PC projects have rolling projects plans that are 6-8 months long. It would be a huge surprise to me if the public sector could match that speed for an IT project of this scale.

As i say, the catalyst excuse is perfect if people buy it, as it gives you license to get away with doing almost any stupid thing on the basis that at some future time that stupid thing can be hailed as a stepping stone.

[z12]

By the time there is electricity and internet access, the tablets will be JUNK.

Yes, I know they are junk already.

Edited February 11, 2012 by z12

[tlansford]

Tools (technology) when deployed on a massive scale have historically been catalysts for change and development. It takes a government initiative to do that, the private sector is not the driver for these changes. That was true before the computer and IT era, but with IT, it happens fast enough to see the shifts. look at broadband roll-outs around the world. South Korea pushed the development and roll-out of broadband across the country and now is a leader in internet infrastructure and many of the related industries. Thailand needs to diversify from being just a manufacturing base for the world and augment it with more domestic sources for design, engineering, etc. This kind of initiative can help that.

As to the roll-out, even European retailers who source large, custom-spec'd, single-system PC projects have rolling projects plans that are 6-8 months long. It would be a huge surprise to me if the public sector could match that speed for an IT project of this scale.

As i say, the catalyst excuse is perfect if people buy it, as it gives you license to get away with doing almost any stupid thing on the basis that at some future time that stupid thing can be hailed as a stepping stone.

Or it could be considered foresight, progressive, investment in the future.

Or maybe it is just an empty campaign promise. If Thailand pushes the program over time, then it's not just a campaign promise.

We won't have to wait that long to see the impact, but I suspect the beneficial changes forced by this won't be published here - eg: electrical infrastructure improvements, internet connectivity, improving teacher skills / development are not headline grabbing stories.

By the way, as for stepping stones, this could be considered a stepping stone in education investment. Since 2000 Thailand has increased its investment in education which I think is a good trend.

As for other "arguments" against the program as written here, ie: 2000 schools without electricity, that is a very nice red herring. Just mention to me how many out of the 10's of thousands of schools have electricity? Schools with no electric are (really) remote, and small schools. The total school population affected is minuscule. The schools will adapt, upgrade, or merge.

Edited February 11, 2012 by tlansford

[OzMick]

Tools (technology) when deployed on a massive scale have historically been catalysts for change and development. It takes a government initiative to do that, the private sector is not the driver for these changes. That was true before the computer and IT era, but with IT, it happens fast enough to see the shifts. look at broadband roll-outs around the world. South Korea pushed the development and roll-out of broadband across the country and now is a leader in internet infrastructure and many of the related industries. Thailand needs to diversify from being just a manufacturing base for the world and augment it with more domestic sources for design, engineering, etc. This kind of initiative can help that.

As to the roll-out, even European retailers who source large, custom-spec'd, single-system PC projects have rolling projects plans that are 6-8 months long. It would be a huge surprise to me if the public sector could match that speed for an IT project of this scale.

As i say, the catalyst excuse is perfect if people buy it, as it gives you license to get away with doing almost any stupid thing on the basis that at some future time that stupid thing can be hailed as a stepping stone.

Or it could be considered foresight, progressive, investment in the future.

Or maybe it is just an empty campaign promise. If Thailand pushes the program over time, then it's not just a campaign promise.

We won't have to wait that long to see the impact, but I suspect the beneficial changes forced by this won't be published here - eg: electrical infrastructure improvements, internet connectivity, improving teacher skills / development are not headline grabbing stories.

By the way, as for stepping stones, this could be considered a stepping stone in education investment. Since 2000 Thailand has increased its investment in education which I think is a good trend.

As for other "arguments" against the program as written here, ie: 2000 schools without electricity, that is a very nice red herring. Just mention to me how many out of the 10's of thousands of schools have electricity? Schools with no electric are (really) remote, and small schools. The total school population affected is minuscule. The schools will adapt, upgrade, or merge.

"..........electrical infrastructure improvements, internet connectivity, improving teacher skills / development......"

Most of the last 10 years we have had a Thaksinist govt. and have seen SFA in these fields, but you think that they are now going to happen. These 2000 "red herring" schools, if on average have 100 pupils, equates to 200,000 kids on the crappy end of the already low rated education system. Don't you think that they should be the first to be benefitted, rather than some headline grabbing, unproven, populist vote-catching scheme? Isn't it a pity that the only scheme likely to benefit "those red herring" kids has just been robbed of funding to pay for tablets?

Have you ever seen a Thai school with less than 100 pupils?

[scorecard]

Tools (technology) when deployed on a massive scale have historically been catalysts for change and development. It takes a government initiative to do that, the private sector is not the driver for these changes. That was true before the computer and IT era, but with IT, it happens fast enough to see the shifts. look at broadband roll-outs around the world. South Korea pushed the development and roll-out of broadband across the country and now is a leader in internet infrastructure and many of the related industries. Thailand needs to diversify from being just a manufacturing base for the world and augment it with more domestic sources for design, engineering, etc. This kind of initiative can help that.

As to the roll-out, even European retailers who source large, custom-spec'd, single-system PC projects have rolling projects plans that are 6-8 months long. It would be a huge surprise to me if the public sector could match that speed for an IT project of this scale.

As i say, the catalyst excuse is perfect if people buy it, as it gives you license to get away with doing almost any stupid thing on the basis that at some future time that stupid thing can be hailed as a stepping stone.

Or it could be considered foresight, progressive, investment in the future.

Or maybe it is just an empty campaign promise. If Thailand pushes the program over time, then it's not just a campaign promise.

We won't have to wait that long to see the impact, but I suspect the beneficial changes forced by this won't be published here - eg: electrical infrastructure improvements, internet connectivity, improving teacher skills / development are not headline grabbing stories.

By the way, as for stepping stones, this could be considered a stepping stone in education investment. Since 2000 Thailand has increased its investment in education which I think is a good trend.

As for other "arguments" against the program as written here, ie: 2000 schools without electricity, that is a very nice red herring. Just mention to me how many out of the 10's of thousands of schools have electricity? Schools with no electric are (really) remote, and small schools. The total school population affected is minuscule. The schools will adapt, upgrade, or merge.

You suggest investment in education over the last decade has gone up, so please share the results of that investment, including how it has addressed / started to address the serious problems with class size and quality of education.

And why would news about electricifaction, internet upgrade etc etc NOt be mentioned here?

You suggest 2,000 schools is a small number?

Edited February 11, 2012 by scorecard

[ginjag]

QUOTE== South Korea pushed the development and roll-out of broadband across the country and now is a leader in internet infrastructure and many of the related industries. Thailand needs to diversify from being just a manufacturing base for the world and augment it with more domestic sources for design, engineering, etc. This kind of initiative can help that.

unquote.All you put here looks good, but lacks the backbone to tell the honest truth. S.Korea did not make a promise to the electorate to give tablets, then realise the schools were simply not ready to operate. S.Korea has got where it is through hard work, good government. Come on tiansford, you already said it's gonna be a bumpy ride. NO NEED for that if they delay it completely,get the systems in place first. A poster said about not giving light bulbs-if there is no electric, and he wasn't just referring to the schools without, he was pointing out fact.

[tlansford]

- sniper -

As i say, the catalyst excuse is perfect if people buy it, as it gives you license to get away with doing almost any stupid thing on the basis that at some future time that stupid thing can be hailed as a stepping stone.

Or it could be considered foresight, progressive, investment in the future.

Or maybe it is just an empty campaign promise. If Thailand pushes the program over time, then it's not just a campaign promise.

We won't have to wait that long to see the impact, but I suspect the beneficial changes forced by this won't be published here - eg: electrical infrastructure improvements, internet connectivity, improving teacher skills / development are not headline grabbing stories.

By the way, as for stepping stones, this could be considered a stepping stone in education investment. Since 2000 Thailand has increased its investment in education which I think is a good trend.

As for other "arguments" against the program as written here, ie: 2000 schools without electricity, that is a very nice red herring. Just mention to me how many out of the 10's of thousands of schools have electricity? Schools with no electric are (really) remote, and small schools. The total school population affected is minuscule. The schools will adapt, upgrade, or merge.

You suggest investment in education over the last decade has gone up, so please share the results of that investment, including how it has addressed / started to address the serious problems with class size and quality of education.

And why would news about electricifaction, internet upgrade etc etc NOt be mentioned here?

You suggest 2,000 schools is a small number?

I did not say that electricity should not be mentioned, only that it is not a reason to NOT roll out the program. I don't find a reference for the # of schools in Thailand, but with some 20 million students and around 20/class average, then 2000 schools would represent around 3-4% of the schools, which would be the smallest (yes, ozmick, no electric probably means less than 100 students), and probably mean around 1% of the students overall... but I wouldn't mind seeing some stats. So 1% of the students being in schools is not a justification for not rolling out the program to 99% of the students.

There is no question that schools need (continual) updating. But that is happening as has been seen in other stories and has been done over the last 12 years. Reference for some spending numbers http://www.childinfo.org/files/EAPR_Thailand.pdf shows that classes sizes have gone down while enrollment has gone up as well as that the spending as a % of the budget was increased.

To provide a concise description of recent investments, wikipedia is helpful ...

The years from 2001 to 2006 showed some of the greatest improvements in education, such as computers in the schools and an increase in the number of qualified native-speaker teachers for foreign languages. Experiments had also been tried with restructuring the administrative regions for education or partly decentralising the responsibility of education to the provinces. ...

On return to democracy in early 2008, after the December election, the newly formed coalition led by the People's Power Party (Thailand) - a party formed by the remnants of deposed Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai party - announced new allocations of funds for education, an increase in the number of teachers, and more changes to the national curriculum and university entrance system

The system is not perfect (where is the system perfect?), but the system is not being ignored, either.

It's just my opinion, but seeing how aggressive technology roll-outs have made an impact in other countries, then even if the execution of this program is only average, it has the potential to significantly improve Thailand's competitiveness and education levels over the next 10 years.